60 Gb iPods! Woo hoo!

I stopped into the Apple Store on North Michigan in Chicago. I had an hour to kill, and I needed to pick up some things anyway (nothing exciting: some iPod Cleaner), and I needed to check some eBay auctions that just closed (Paypal is refunding seller fees all day today!). While I'm here, I might as well post to my weblog too (since my crappy Comcast broadband is grumpy today). I love this place.

The store is packed. People are huddled around the new G5 iMac (on which I am typing this). I don't like the form factor myself, but I never have liked attached monitors (or in this case, attached computers).

Apple employees are walking up to everyone they can corner to show them the new 60 Gb iPod, and people like it. I'm not just talking about the iPod: I actually like the store workers talking to me, unlike the bozos at the CompUSA down the street.

Sadly, the new iPod is $500, and I just bought a 40Gb a couple months ago.

I think the two guys behind me are both customers, although one is showing the other how to burn DVDs. The guy next to me is checking his email. A kid on the other side of the partition is playing a MIDI keyboard hooked up to GarageBand. People are smiling. And holy moly, there's my wife! I didn't show up with her but I'm supposed ot meet her in 15 minutes! She's checking her email too. Gotta go....

4 Comments

linuxactivist
2004-10-29 07:54:08

Is this rumor true...
That ipod batteries are only good for 18 months and they aren't replaceable... saw a viral video to that effect on ifilm.com to that effect. If it is true, it is too bad and Apple.com should be criticized and not praised for iPod.

Is this rumor true...
It may have been true for them, but it isn't true for me. And I don't think it is true for many people.

When I first bought my 2G iPod, Apple did not yet have a battery replacement program. So, I had to accept that the battery might die and the iPod would be useless as a portable device. I was OK with it because I could always leave it tethered to my sound system in the living room. It can shuffle by album which none of the CD jukeboxes I've ever tried out or read about can do.

Now, Apple has an official battery replacement program in place as do third parties. So, I wouldn't worry about it much. I sold my 2G to a friend that is still using it on the original battery and my wife uses a 3G iPod and I have a 4G iPod. So far, no need to replace any of the batteries.

MichaelJohasTeener
2004-10-29 10:05:33

Is this rumor true...
Not true for most people, although a few have had problems, particularly those that go through many recharge cycles.

My old original 5GB scrollwheel iPod is on it's original battery and still gets about 6-10 hours (made it from London to LAX a few months ago). Its normal mode of operation is connected to my car's cassette player, and it usually gets charged up long before its battery is drained.

clarus
2004-10-31 09:44:23

Is this rumor true...Is this rumor true...That ipod batteries are only good for 18 months and they aren't replaceable...

iPod batteries are exactly the same technology as your cell phone battery and your laptop battery: lithium-ion. It is the best battery available for those devices, and no company can overcome the aspects of that battery technology any better than any other company. Any device you have with that battery type is subject to the same behavior: It will slowly die over the next 2 to 4 years, and when it does can vary. 18 months is a worst case scenario that happened to these guys who happened to be creative with a video camera. Would they have made a video if their Samsung phone or Sony laptop battery had given out in 18 months? No, because they are not such ripe cultural targets as an iPod.

BTW - Use care in letting yourself be influenced by the media. First, you allowed a street video to make you think that iPod batteries might be different than the batteries in other similar devices. Second, you used one corporation's brand ("Viral Video") as if it was a normal English phrase, which means the marketing program of that company has achieved success.

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